D.C. Tourists Find Many Closed Doors

A Park Service sign announces the closing of the National Mall due to the government shutdown.

Tourists looking to explore Washington, D.C., Tuesday were treated to a warm, sunny day – and lots of closed doors.

Visitors flocked to the Lincoln Memorial, but instead of taking pictures next to the famous statue of Abraham Lincoln, they stood in front of fences that blocked access to the steps and posed next to the sign notifying memorial-goers of a government shutdown. Barred from entering the U.S. Capitol, many took photos from nearby benches.

Still, visitors who had traveled from around the globe to see Washington’s monuments – many for the first time – said they were disappointed. Pamela Lamichhane and her husband arrived Saturday from Morris, Ill., and in preparation for the shutdown spent Monday racing through several national monuments and museums. “We had to go so fast, so we didn’t get to spend much time anywhere,” said Ms. Lamichhane, who had never been to Washington before. And despite their efforts, several sights – including the Smithsonian museums and the Holocaust museum – went unseen.

Still, Ms. Lamichhane said others have it much worse. The couple met a group Monday who had just arrived in Washington and grimly told them they had planned to stay for a month.

Rand and Diana Pombier traveled from Houston for a long-awaited trip around the Northeast to celebrate their retirement. They arrived in Washington Friday evening but had been saving the monuments and national museums for Tuesday. And, when they leave the city Wednesday and work their way up the coast – Philadelphia is their next stop – they will likely be barred from seeing many more federal sights, including the Liberty Bell.

The last time the government shut down, in 1995 and 1996, there was an estimated 2 million drop in visitors to national museums and monuments, according to a Congressional Research Service Report.

Many tourists said they would likely try some side-trips rather than stay in a town where many of the main attractions were locked.

Elizabeth Moore and Chris Tinney arrived Monday from Sydney, Australia, and hoped to take their 7-year-old son, Nicholas, to the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum. Instead, the family spent most of Tuesday “wandering around, looking at museums we can’t go into,” Mr. Tinney said.

The family had planned to stay until Thursday, but is now considering renting a car and driving around the Chesapeake Bay. “There’s not enough to do to keep a small child entertained with all the attractions closed,” Ms. Moore said.

Coloradan Carol Pepin, 72, had hoped to show her friend, Linda Rix, 60, around the city for the first time. Ms. Pepin made tour reservations at the U.S. Capitol for Wednesday, since Ms. Rix, from Cheyenne, Wyo., had always wanted to see the building. “It a special disappointment for her,” Ms. Pepin said. The two plan to leave on Saturday after a possible Wednesday trip to Baltimore, and Ms. Rix said she won’t return to the capital.

Activists who had traveled to the capital to meet with lawmakers also expressed their frustration with the shutdown. Mothers of Lost Children, an advocacy group for women who have lost custody of their children after reporting abuse, planned to meet with several congressman from Arizona and had a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. In the tumultuous aftermath of the shutdown, organizers were not sure whether the hearing would be canceled, said Elizabeth Renner, a group member from Long Island, N.Y. Several others had traveled to Washington to protest the court system, but feared their movement would be overlooked during the crisis, she said.

“We need leaders to help us with our issues,” Ms. Renner said. “This shutdown hurts people … It’s silly, not productive, and childish.”

Tourist Nancy Kluver, who was visiting the city from Minneapolis, Minn., with her daughter, had hoped to visit the Holocaust Museum. “We should’ve, I guess, planned ahead,” she said. “I really didn’t think that they’d … get to the point to where they’d shut it down.”

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